U of A rolls out Razorback Memo to help supervisors communicate

The University of Arkansas is rolling out a new monthly communication tool, Razorback Memo, designed to help campus supervisors stay informed and better connect employees with critical institutional updates. This initiative, which began this month, provides supervisors with a curated collection of notices and announcements from key administrative units. Supervisors will be automatically included in each edition without needing to sign up.

The monthly memo is meant to back up what research and employee feedback have long shown to be the best way to communicate at work: direct talks between bosses and their staff. Data from the school’s Employee Engagement Survey still shows that communication is a top issue everywhere in the organization, no matter the group or department. Razorback Memo tries to fix this by making a single, up-to-date place for bosses to get info they can share with their teams.

“One of the clearest messages we’ve heard through the Employee Engagement Survey is that employees want improvements in workplace communication,” said Amy Ochoa, senior associate vice chancellor for human resources. “We know information is most effective when it comes from a trusted supervisor who can provide context, answer questions and connect updates to an employee’s daily work. Razorback Memo gives supervisors a streamlined resource that helps them have those conversations and keeps our campus community better informed.”

Each edition of Razorback Memo will pull important administrative updates from a bunch of campus partners, like Human Resources, Faculty Affairs, Campus Services, Information Technology Services, the Office of the General Counsel, and University Relations. By sticking info from many groups into one monthly message, the school wants to cut down on too much information while making sure a more steady and dependable stream of work-related news gets out.

Arkansas News and the weekly Arkansas News Brief email stay the university’s main news spot for all kinds of news. But Razorback Memo has its own job by making a straighter line from the top school leaders to the workers. It gives bosses correct, current info they can talk over in team meetings, private chats, and other usual get-togethers.

University leaders are telling bosses to look over each month’s memo and use what’s in it for talks with their workers. The plan shows the school’s promise to be an Employer of Choice, with a stress on making communication better, being more open, and making sure workers have what they need to do their jobs well and back the university’s goal.

For those with questions or wishing to request content inclusion in Razorback Memo, the university has established an email address: [email protected].

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